New Governor: Dump “Darkeys” and Faux Florida State Song

Among the many controversies (and we’ll get to some in later posts) that Florida’s new kinder, gentler Republican-lite governor, Charlie Crist, has brought about is whether to change the state song. Even those of us who never really knew we had a state song can guess what it might be. That’s right, Stephen Foster’s classic, “Old Folks at Home,” popularly known as “Way Down Upon the Suwannee River.”

Pennsylvanian Stephen Foster never set foot in Florida, and his song wasn’t even about Florida until Foster realized that “Swanee” sounded better than “Peedee,” the river in South Carolina he originally sought to memorialize

It all started when Crist — who can’t pass a day without being compared to California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger for his “populist,” centrist, two-month-old leadership — decided to forgo the playing of the state song during his inauguration ceremony. No one seemed to miss it at the time, what with all the other festivities, but later Crist was asked to explain the omission.

”There are lyrics in it that are, in the opinion of some, a derogatory reference to some time in our historical past that involves slavery,” Crist said. ”I can’t condone it.”

Since he said that, people like me who know the first couple of lines and then hum, have been wondering what the actual lyrics are, and how this got to be Florida’s state song. What the research turns up is fascinating.

For starters, Pennsylvanian Stephen Foster never set foot in Florida, and his song wasn’t even about Florida until Foster realized that “Swanee,” as he spelled it, sounded better than “Peedee,” the river in South Carolina he originally sought to memorialize.

Wait, it gets better. Foster wrote the song in 1851 for E.P. Christy and his traveling show, “Christy’s Minstrels.” It sold hundreds of thousands of copies, and by the 1880s, was credited with starting Florida’s tourist industry. But a look at the lyrics is enough to make you recoil, or guffaw, or both.

As written:

Way down upond de Swanee ribber,
Far, far away,
Dere’s wha my heart is turning ebber,
Dere’s wha de old folks stay.
All up and down de whole creation,
Sadly I roam,
Still longing for de old plantation,
And for de old folks at home.

Chorus:

All de world am sad and dreary,
Ebry where I roam,
Oh! darkeys how my heart grows weary,
Far from de old folks at home.

All round de little farm I wandered
When I was young,
Den many happy days I squandered,
Many de songs I sung.
When I was playing wid my brudder
Happy was I
Oh! take me to my kind old mudder,
Dere let me live and die.

One little hut among de bushes,
One dat I love,
Still sadly to my mem’ry rushes,
No matter where I rove
When will I see de bees a humming
All round de comb?
When will I hear de banjo tumming
Down in my good old home?

Whew.

The song has had an amazing journey over the years, according to the University of Pittsburgh’s Stephen Foster Memorial. At the turn of the 20th century, African-American scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois deemed it an authentic song of the Negro race, which he said had adopted it to express their emotions. W.C. Handy, the “Father of the Blues,” who died in 1958, said it helped bring about emancipation and owes to the “well of sorrow” that gave rise to the blues.

Florida adopted Old Folks at Home as its state song in 1935, an era that falls between those two, and long before the civil rights years cast new light on those “darkeys.” It replaced “Florida, My Florida,” by Rev. Dr. C.V. Waugh, which had been the official song since 1913.

Today, there is a predictable response to the idea of unloading the ballad. Some say it’s part of our tradition (or a Pennsylvanian’s idea of it anyway). Others call for the lyrics, no longer copyright protected, to be changed to something less offensive. Kentucky modernized Foster’s “My Old Kentucky Home” in 1986 by changing his much-used “darkeys” to “people.” And then there’s a third opinion.

But state Sen. Arthenia Joyner, D-Tampa and a member of the black caucus, says Florida needs a more appropriate song because it makes too many people cringe.

”The song needs to be taken off life support and killed,” said Joyner.

I’m with her. I doubt any former slaves ever pined away for the “de old plantation,” and it’s time to dump that fiction once and for all.

So the question, is what do we replace it with? There’s always “Moving to Florida” by the Butthole Surfers. Or “Casadega” by Tom Petty. Or almost anything by Gloria Estefan. Just please, please, don’t pick Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville.”

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10 thoughts on “New Governor: Dump “Darkeys” and Faux Florida State Song”

  1. Maryland has Florida beat.
    Maryland’s State Song first Stanza.

    The despot’s heel is on thy shore,
    Maryland!
    His torch is at thy temple door,
    Maryland!
    Avenge the patriotic gore
    That flecked the streets of Baltimore,
    And be the battle queen of yore,
    Maryland! My Maryland!

    From Maryland Secretary of State Kids’ Page
    This poem of hate of the Union goes on for 9 stanza’s.

  2. i find it appauling that people in this day and age cant see past color take for instance the ga state flag issue those things mean something to people its heritage not racismn if we floridians have to have our state song changed to not offend people then every rap song out there that is making referneces to white people have to be changed too just as one state senator wrote we have alot of different races and cultures so why must florida change to me it is unconstitutional and wrong try reading about the person who wrote it before you past judgement use the internet do research and see what the true meaning of the song is you might be surprised to find out what i did

    god help us all

  3. “Keep Swanee River! It’s not over till the FL(Legislature) sings. Keep the Modern Version of Swanee River. Over 50 versions of Swanee River have been viewed on YouTube over 100,000 times. Keep the music of internationally known Swanee River. Stop EXCESSIVE POLITICAL CORRECTNESS in Florida at the Suwannee River.” Pace Allen, attorney, Tallahassee.

    Top Three Modern Versions

    1. Vanilla Mood – International Swanee
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgcX5leui3g&feature=user
    2. Swanee River Boogie by Albert Ammons (1946) King of Boogie Woogie
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtcPHr2yJ8A
    3. Swanee River Rock by Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Ray Charles

    http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x30b71_jerry-lee-lewisfats-and-friendsswan

    Vote to Keep Swanee at http://www.taxteaparty/justvote

  4. i just seen the new florida song lyrics and they to be perfectly honest suck to high heaven and also as i said before the original manuscript does not have darkeys in it alot of people pver the yrs have made there own version just cause you happen to see the version that had that word in it and it offended you dam give it a rest as far as i am concerned it will be the state song to me and i will play it loud and proud cause i am a true floridian

  5. Soo, you want to change the state song because it has words that relate to slavery. If that’s the case, lets change the state name. It was “Florida” during the slavery era. The state flag, by the way has a St. Andrews cross on it, the same as the confederate battle flag and it has a Seminole woman on it also. Some Seminoles were black. Lets go a little further. We’ll have to change everything about the nation. Slaves were brought here by the U.S. not the Confederacy, under the U.S. flag. Maybe we can change the national name to “Afro America” then maybe they’ll be satisfied.

  6. Thank God the species isn’t called a Southern Mockingbird or else they’d change our bird too; then again our mockingbird is gray and some might argue a confederate gray; our next state bird is likely to be a snowbird. But, maybe there are enough old Floridans with just enough of a mockingbird’s fight to defend our nest.

    A Floridan

  7. I doubt any former slaves ever pined away for the “de old plantation,”

    Actually many Blacks did return to the plantation when set free in the 1700-1800s. There are many referrances to this. While I am concerned about lyrics, we might think that the song was historically accurate, especially for those who lived alone the Pee-Dee in SC. We get concerned when the government sanitizes documents. Ar e we not doing the same thing. What about Foster? Was he racist? Mabe who was portraying things as they were from a black mans perspective. So lets start burning books. Maybe we should start with the consititution which called other people counted a less than whole.

  8. BTW look up the “pined away” in your dictionary [q url=”http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pine+away”]Verb 1. pine away – lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief; “After her husband died, she just pined away”
    languish, waste
    weaken – become weaker; “The prisoner’s resistance weakened after seven days”
    [/q]

  9. This got me thinking: What is California’s state song? “California, Here I Come” would be the obvious choice but, no — it’s this bit of dreck:

    I love You California
    Written by F. B. Silverwood
    Composed by A. F. Frankenstein

    I love you, California, you’re the greatest state of all
    I love you in the winter, summer, spring, and in the fall.
    I love your fertile valleys; your dear mountains I adore,
    I love your grand old ocean and I love her rugged shore.

    chorus

    I love your redwood forests – love your fields of yellow grain,
    I love your summer breezes, and I love your winter rain,
    I love you, land of flowers; land of honey, fruit and wine,
    I love you, California; you have won this heart of mine.

    chorus

    I love your old gray Missions – love your vineyards streteching far,
    I love you, California, with your Golden Gate ajar,
    I love your purple sunsets, love your skies of azure blue,
    I love you, California; I just can’t help loving you.

    chorus

    I love you, Catalina – you are very dear to me,
    I love you, Tamalpais, and I love Yosemite,
    I love you, Land of Sunshine, half your beauties are untold,
    I loved you in my childhood, and I’ll love you when I’m old.

    chorus

    When the snow crowned Golden Sierras
    Keep their watch o’er the valleys bloom.
    It is there I would be in our land by the sea,
    Ev’ry breeze bearing rich perfume,
    It is here nature gives of her rarest,
    It is Home Sweet Home to me.
    And I know when I die I shall breathe my last sigh
    For my sunny California.

    If you think the lyrics are bad, click here to hear the melody.

    The irony is, there are all sorts of pretty good songs about California, especially from the Sixties — “California Dreamin'” by the Mamas/Papas and “California” by Joni Mitchell come to mind. But I would nominate this ditty from Westsiders Tupac Shakur and Dr. Dre:

    California Love

    California…knows how to party
    California…knows how to party
    In the city of L.A.
    In the city of good ol’ Watts
    In the city, the city of Compton
    We keep it rockin
    We keep it rockin

    Now let me welcome everybody to the wild, wild west
    A state that’s untouchable like Elliot Ness
    The track hits ya eardrum like a slug to ya chest
    Pack a vest for your Jimmy in the city of sex
    We in that sunshine state with a bomb ass hemp beat
    The state where ya never find a dance floor empty
    And pimps be on a mission for them greens
    Lean mean money-makin-machines servin fiends
    I been in the game for ten years makin rap tunes
    Ever since honeys was wearin sassoon
    Now it’s ’95 and they clock me and watch me
    Diamonds shinin lookin like I robbed Liberace
    It’s all good, from Diego to tha Bay
    Your city is tha bomb if your city makin pay
    Throw up a finger if ya feel the same way
    Dre puttin it down for
    California

    Shake it shake it baby
    Shake it shake it baby
    Shake it shake it mama
    Shake it Cali
    Shake it shake it baby
    Shake it shake it shake it shake it…

    Out on bail fresh outta jail
    California dreamin
    Soon as I stepped on the scene
    I’m hearin hoochies screamin
    Fiendin for money and alcohol
    The life of a west side playa where cowards die
    Only in Cali where we riot now rallies are live and die
    In L.A. we wearin Chucks not Ballies (that’s right)
    Dressed in Locs and khaki suits and ride is what we do
    Flossin but have caution we collide with other crews
    Famous cause we program worldwide
    Let’em recognize from Longbeach to Rosecrans
    Bumpin and grindin like a slow jam, it’s west side
    So you know the row won’t bow down to no man
    Say what you say
    But give me that bomb beat from Dre
    Let me serenade the streets of L.A.
    From Oakland to Sacktown
    The Bay Area and back down
    Cali is where they put they mack down
    Give me love

    Now make it shake…

    Uh, yeah, uh, longbeach in tha house, uh yeah
    Oaktown, Oakland definately in tha house hahaha
    Frisko, Frisko
    Hey, you know LA is up in this
    Pasadena, where you at
    Yeah, Ingelwood, Ingelwood always up to no good
    Even Hollywood tryin to get a piece baby
    Sacramento, sacramento where ya at ? yeah

    Throw it up y’all, throw it up, Throw it up
    Let’s show these fools how we do this on that west side
    Cause you and I know it’s tha best side

    Yeah, That’s riight
    West coast, west coast
    Uh, California Love
    California Love

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